What ESCAFLOWNE Demonstrates About Mecha

Episode #7 -- Watch & Learn -- It's about the feels, man.

First, you’ve got Van and Allen advancing their tense rivalry through
a sparring session. Then Millerna strolls in and, after Van politely excuses
himself, she tugs at Allen’s heart-strings a bit. Finally, Hitomi peeks in to
pine wistfully while her crush seems to be falling into the clutches of the
snooty rich girl. All within about five
minutes. All around the same spot.

It’s all the stuff of high school silliness, for sure… and that’s
exactly why it works.

One thing I’ve learned from watching who-knows-how-many shows for this
site, episode-by-episode: no matter how
complex a fantasy world gets, it’s often the most basic emotional interest that
keeps you coming back each week. Even when I’m watching a show that’s crawling
up its own butt with mumbo jumbo, I’ll still be intrigued to keep watching if
it’s dangling basic relationship
conflicts - - will the girl get the guy? Will the estranged father and son mend
fences? -- over all the episodes. They’re some of the easiest buttons to push, sure, but they’re honestly
the most effective.

Mech suits might sell figurines, but it’s ‘shipping’ like this (relationships
of all types) that honestly hook a premise deep into fans’ headspace. Check
out any Tumblr feed or artist alley print rack for proof of that. It's been 15 odd years, and I still think
ESCAFLOWNE is so impressive for how it's able to satisfy both
interests.

Ask people about the show and
they’ll say the Guymelefs are cool, certainly; but they also follow it up with
a winsome coo about Hitomi’s romantic misadventures. And that's answer to the question posited in the title here. Who cares about the mechs if we don't care about who's piloting them?

Look up this
episode,"City of Intrigue" and decide for yourself,
then read my thoughts on the previous episode here.

About the Author

Tom Pinchuk’s a writer and personality with a large number of comics, videos and features like this to his credit. Visit his website - - tompinchuk.com - - and follow his Twitter: @tompinchuk

Yeah the sword mechs are not the stars of this show. But they are well done.The early suting up sceens really sale the stempunkish style to them .Tho the cloacks are bit odd really .Good place for huge batle banners but their just colors.

What you descirbe about the will it or wont it aspect rings ture to this show but many good long runing anime. From Bleach to Case Closed they have a draw wil they or wont they story hook that keeps the neet other stuff in the back ground.

I prefer my mech shows with the mechs as props not the stars of the show.This show i do consider probly the best sword mech show i have watched with Break Blade right behind it.